How to Kill Pine Trees

Overview

Pine trees are usually desirable landscape trees in your yard. Towering high into the sky, they provide ample shade as well as a home to a variety of animals. Sometimes, however, it may be necessary to kill a pine tree. It may be interfering with a power line or it might be diseased. For whatever reason you have to kill pine trees, rest assured it is an easy process to accomplish. Non-selective herbicide works best at killing a pine tree, but it must be applied correctly to work.

Step 1

Identify which pine tree you want to kill and mark it by tying a ribbon around it. This will prevent you from inadvertently killing the wrong tree.

Step 2

Take a hatchet or axe and make horizontal but non-overlapping cuts around the entire trunk of the pine tree. Extend the cuts into the sapwood, which is the lighter colored wood of the trunk. The cuts should be 2 inches long and 1 to 3 inches apart.

Step 3

Use a spray bottle and spray 1 to 2ml of non-selective herbicide into each cut. A good non-selective herbicide to use is Roundup.

Step 4

Repeat the application after seven days if the tree isn't completely dead.